Did Republicans win a “briar patch” battle with Nancy Pelosi?

posted at 2:50 pm on June 19, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

Help me out here. I’ve been reading this report from ABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf since last night, and I’m not sure exactly how Nancy Pelosi thinks she has found some new leverage against Senate Republicans. In fact, as I read this, the Senate GOP has been handed a shadow filibuster by the House Speaker in what has to be one of the oddest and unprompted briar-patch strategies I’ve ever seen on Capitol Hill:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struck a combative tone tonight, rejecting the Medicare “doc fix” passed hastily through the Senate Friday until Senate Republicans allow a vote on jobs measures that have passed through the House.

“I see no reason to pass this inadequate bill until we see jobs legislation coming out of the Senate,” said Pelosi in a statement. “House Democrats are saying to Republicans in the Senate: Show us the jobs! (exclamation mark hers)”

Her statement, along with Senate Republicans’ unwillingness to pass any legislation that adds to the debt, means that Medicare doctors can expect a 21 percent pay cut when claims that have been held for two weeks start to be processed by Medicare’s government administrator on Monday. Senate Democrats could not muster 60 votes twice this week when they considered bills more to Pelosi’s liking. They passed the last-minute doc fix bill to avert the 21 percent pay cut to Medicare doctors on Friday afternoon, even as the pay cut was scheduled to take effect.

Pelosi struck a “combative tone” by refusing to act on a bill that, er, rescues Democrats from their heretofore unfulfilled payoff to the AMA in exchange for their support on ObamaCare. Republicans didn’t need to pass a “doc fix” after the passage of the ObamaCare legislation whose financials were specifically predicated on keeping the Medicare reimbursement cuts in place. The “doc fix” pulls Democratic chestnuts out of the fire, not Republican commitments.

And for what reason will she hold up the bill? Pelosi wants Republicans to help pass a “jobs bill” that is almost entirely a bailout of state budgets, one that violates the Pay-Go rules that Pelosi herself demanded this year, and got. As the midterms approach, even Democrats in both chambers have begun to balk at voting for big-spending bills, hoping that a recent show of frugality will blind voters to almost four years of Democratic profligacy that managed the near-impossible feat of making 2001-6 Republicans look like parsimonious misers in comparison.

In other words, Pelosi has handed the Senate Republicans the key to a filibuster not just in the Senate but also in the House, all to demand a massive expansion of the deficit on two separate fronts. The GOP couldn’t have possibly asked for a better political position even if they had begged Pelosi not to throw them into that briar patch. And if the “doctor fix” fails to get out of the House, it won’t be Republicans who get the blame, since Pelosi can call a vote on that any time she desires.

Let’s hope that Republicans manage to keep this advantage for as long as it takes Pelosi to realize that she’s blown it.

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I detest this woman and everything she stands for; however, I would not be so quick to write this off as a boon to republicans. I think we will soon see that there is a method to her madness even though we cannot see it just now. She is ruthless.

However,,the Rs have always managed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory,,lets hope they are developing a spine,,,no fondling across the aisle……lets stand on principle and what is RIGHT/CORRECT for the country,, not the party or so the press will not “talk bad about you”.

On Wednesday last week the Dems in the Senate(along party lines) defeated a Republican bill that would have extended the “Doc Fix” for two years and extended unemployment again without raising the deficit. Why did they defeat it, because the Dems wanted their entire bill with the additional “Stimulus” money for their pet projects and union pay-offs without compromise and without paying for it.

Both ddrintn and Seven percent solution have it right. Repubs have honed the art of “defeat from the jaws of victory” to a science. That’s why I don’t donate to the party anymore. I give to specific candidates who espouse my beliefs.

Pelosi wants Republicans to help pass a “jobs bill” that is almost entirely a bailout of state budgets, one that violates the Pay-Go rules that Pelosi herself demanded this year, and got.

Is this the same ‘jobs bill’ that found the money to bailout state budgets by cutting unemployment benefits by $25 a week? The one that is transferring money from people who were laid off from private sector jobs to those with essentially guaranteed employment?

The Glenn Beck program is great today[Sat 19 june,1300 mdt]. Talking about ‘fiction’books that are coming or came true. Vince Flynn,, Ayn Rand, etc,,,,,,great stuff. I love Vince Flynn. Have been reading him ever since his first book,,”Term Limits”.

Is this the same ‘jobs bill’ that found the money to bailout state budgets by cutting unemployment benefits by $25 a week? The one that is transferring money from people who were laid off from private sector jobs to those with essentially guaranteed employment?

agmartin on June 19, 2010 at 3:14 PM

Why yes. That’s the one! DOn’t you see how important it is for the Dems to keep their SEIU cubicle drones happy? You wouldn’t want the purpleshirts turning on them, would you?

We must remember that only a small percentage of MD’s are members of the AMA. It is mostly academics. Thus, the AMA doesn’t really care whether or not the doc fix happens. It will not really affect the AMA that much.

Pelosi already has her on serfdom. She will just get a mansion of an office building for her staff’s relatives at $90,000 a month and send the bill to the air force. She will not give up her plane when she is gone. It is written into the law that no one read that she gets it for life cutesy of the air force.

That is why these people need to be taken to court on RICOH statutes , locked up, and loose all privileges.[The diff in Democrat party paperwork the states affirming Skippys eligibility is a good place to start,,,,signed by Pelosi]

I’m not sure Republicans had anything to do with creating this “briar patch” Nancy’s dealing with:
The House isn’t going to pass any (more) spending bills less than 5 months before elections.
They can’t pass another “jobs” bill, because those have been dismal failures, especially Porkulus.
And remember, Nancy’s pushed every big spending bill as a “jobs” bill, including crap & tax.

As Ed pointed out, this “jobs” bill is to fund state and local jobs–how did that funding end up in Washington?
And they can’t fund something ObamaCare made obsolete like the doc fix, because that would be admitting that O-care robbed Medicare to pay for O-Care, which we, the smart people knew, but which Nancy and the Dems were hoping no-one would notice.
And then, if they try to fund the leaking holes of Medicare, starting with the doc fix, it’s an admission that Medicare’s going broke, too, before O-care’s even funded.
What a mess!
I love it!
And Republicans,en masse, voted against Porkulus and O-Care, so they’ve got that going for them.
The electorate, particularly the growing Tea Party Movement, doesn’t want to hear about any more spending out of D.C. and in fact, Congress is adjourning a week early for the summer.

The lame duck bunch is going to be a disaster. They are going to attempt to use Joe Biden and his one vote to get their 50 plus 1 on everything they do. We need to be very vigilant,,,,,they are going to be desperate,,,watch a cornered animal…..

That is why these people need to be taken to court on RICOH statutes , locked up, and loose all privileges.[The diff in Democrat party paperwork the states affirming Skippys eligibility is a good place to start,,,,signed by Pelosi]

retiredeagle on June 19, 2010 at 3:51 PM

Which RICOH statutes would that be? The copier or the printer statutes? The acronym you’re looking for is RICO. BTW, What’s with all the double commas anyway?

So this quote, “I see no reason to pass this inadequate bill until we see jobs legislation coming out of the Senate,” means that she will pass an inadequate bill if she sees new jobs legislation? That sounds kind of stupid.

Pelosi struck a “combative tone” by refusing to act on a bill that, er, rescues Democrats from their heretofore unfulfilled payoff to the AMA in exchange for their support on ObamaCare.

But isn’t how it will be “spun” in the push media. It will be “spun” as Republicans blocking BOTH a doc fix AND a jobs bill. All the average person driving to work on Monday morning will hear on their car radio is how Republicans are obstructing both more money for doctors and more money for jobs.

Too bad R’s let the deficit-financed “docfix” through the Senate, even temporarily. They should insist on the docfix being financed with other spending cuts, to make good on the representations made by the health care bill’s managers (and, for that matter, the AMA).